An 11-year-old boy — one of hundreds who have been shuttled to an immigration detention facility in the middle of the New Mexican desert — was released this week after it was discovered that he is a U.S. citizen, according to the child's attorney. [...]

There have also been reports of abuses and inadequate access to attorneys, healthcare and food at new detention facilities, specifically in Artesia.

This child was held prisoner for more than a month. More than a month.

Laura Lichter, an immigration attorney and former president of American Immigration Lawyers Assn. who provides free legal counsel to detainees, said this:

"I think the fact that a U.S. citizen was detained and for this long before anyone actually realized that there was even the possibility that they had detained a U.S. citizen shows you just how little respect and attention is being given to people's cases... What this shows you is that there really is no due process here and that the system is only working in a way to deport people from the country. It is not working to protect people's claims."

Human rights, schuman schmights. Justice, schmustice. All that counts is rounding up as many of them "illegals" as possible who have that weird, non-white skin color. Throw 'em all in the hoosegow, pack 'em into a bus, and boot 'em out of our monochromatic Amurika. Who cares if they're citizens? They look different!

How many times have we been subjected to John McCain's myopic rants about arming the rebels in any given civil war or in any given area of conflict?

Rachel Maddow:

It's Arm the Rebels o'clock. Do you know where your Senator John McCain is?

Per McCain, it really doesn't matter much where or who they are, if they're rebels, just arm them. Especially if President Obama is taking a more measured approach. Grampy McDrumbeat is just itching to hand over lethal weapons of war to someone, anyone, because if fits into his whole Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb [insert country here] mentality: the more explosions the better. Especially if we aid and abet some of them. Blow 'em up! Kill [insert bad guys' name here]! What a blast! (Pun intended.)

There's just one problem with that mania, Senator McDrumbeat. It can backfire.

Perez Molina said the violence and crime in Guatemala were a byproduct of the Cold War when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were funding opposite sides of civil wars in Central America to gain influence.

Perez Molina was a top intelligence officer in the Guatemalan military in the 1980s and ’90s.

Moral of the story: Don't listen to John McCain.

Real moral of the story: A more rational, measured approach is most often very wise and can save lives.

Other moral of the story: The road to more violence and crime is paved with shortsighted intentions.

Remember the old UPS slogan "What can brown do for you?"? It seems to have taken on a whole new meaning these days. To many Republicans, brown means "illegals," "diseased," "gangs," "invasion," threat. If it's got a negative connotation and can generate fear, then that's what brown means to them. To them, brown also means cheap labor, house cleaners, gardeners, nannies, and farm workers.

Reasonable people, however, understand that we are a nation of immigrants. Conservatives bellow about how abortion "kills babies" in the womb, but don't blink an eye when protesters physically block and verbally abuse tiny, confused refugees seeking to escape death in their countries of origin. Saving those lives? Pfft! Living, breathing children, toddlers, and babies don't count. Only zygotes. Only feti. Only potential lives, not young struggling ones who endured rape and other horrific violence in order to come to America, because what they left behind was even worse.

Well, panicky anti-immigrant mouth-breathers, get out your asbestos hats, because your hair is about to catch fire. Here's what brown means to Miami. Via the New York Times, from an article titled, "Influx of South Americans Drives Miami’s Reinvention":

It was less a commentary on soccer than a tableau vivant of the new Miami, which has gone from a place defined by Cuban-Americans to one increasingly turbocharged by a surge of well-educated, well-off South Americans in the last decade. Their growing numbers and influence, both as immigrants and as visitors, have transformed Miami’s once recession-dampened downtown, enriched its culture and magnified its allure for businesses around the world as a crossroads of the Spanish-speaking world. [...]

The transformation, the latest chapter in the city’s decades-long evolution, is especially apparent amid the building cranes, street life and nightclubs downtown. But it is seen across Miami-Dade County, where highly educated South American immigrants and second-home owners have increasingly put down roots and played a major role in jump-starting a region that not long ago was ravaged by recession. [...]

Jorge Pérez, the wealthy real estate developer for whom the the new Pérez Art Museum Miami is named, said the latest surge of South Americans was turning the city into a year-round destination and luring more entrepreneurs and international businesses. Latin American banks have proliferated as they follow their customers here.

So, Republicans, are South Americans acceptable to you? Is it just Mexicans and Central Americans who creep you out? And how will brownophobics respond to this statement by Pérez: “South Americans are the game changers — they are the ones that allowed the housing market to bounce back."

This 'Blunt' is a repeat because sometimes you have to repeat things to get them across to people who are willfully ignorant. I'm not talking to you, because if you're reading The Political Carnival, you most likely understand that the United States of America is a country of immigrants. Your ancestors may have come hundreds of years ago on the Mayflower or as indentured servants from England or they might have become 'immigrants' when we invaded Mexico (yes 'we' - the United States), conquered territory by force, and the Spanish- and native-American-language who alreadylived there had to deal with the fact they were now citizens of a completely different country.

Right-wingers don't seem to want to know anything about the Mexican-American War but here's more about it if you'd like to refresh their memories. Mexican-American War.

I could easily continue but I think I will leave it at that and post this video (sorry for putting an image of Joe Arpaio on your computer screen):